Employees will be required to use their own devices in the office within the next few years

A new study published by research firm Gartner found that one significant change in the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend is coming. According to the study, by 2017 half of all employers will require workers to supply their own smartphones and tablets for work needs.

The research firm believes that companies that offer company-owned smartphones or stipends to purchase your own device will become the exception among enterprise employers. 38% of all companies expect to stop providing devices to workers by 2016 according to the study. The study says that all of those companies that plan to stop providing workers with devices will expect the workers to use their own gadgets.

The study found that roughly half of all corporate environments supporting BYOD currently provide partial reimbursement for devices.

Interestingly, the study also found that companies within the United States are twice as likely to allow employees to bring their own devices to work as those in Europe. Europe currently boasts the lowest adoption of all regions for BYOD policies.

Gartner also says that workers in India, China, and Brazil are the most likely to be using their own device at the office.

Unfortunately during the BES era companies were controlling of their mobile devices but more and more the trend is going towards what the users want. This ties in with employee hiring, satisfaction, and retention. It's a perk that we offer potential employees. I'm not sure about other companies but where we work we try to hire the best and the little perks can sometimes favor us in their decisions.